Those Left Behind
by SkyGem
Summary: When the Red Hair Pirates take a much needed vacation in the East Blue so their captain can visit his hometown, Shanks finds that while he's been away, he's become the father of three young boys with eyes too haunted to belong on kids their age. A visit that was only meant to last a month ends up taking a year as the young father tries to get his new sons to open up to him.
1. The Return Home

Summary: When the Red Hair Pirates take a much needed vacation in the East Blue so their captain can visit his hometown, Shanks finds that while he's been away, he's become the father of three young boys with eyes too haunted to belong on kids their age. A visit that was only meant to last a month ends up taking a year as the young father tries to get his sons to open up to him. Main pairing: ShanksxMakino.

* * *

When most people thought of Akagami no Shanks, the image that popped to mind was that of a bloodthirsty pirate captain, a man so powerful he was known as one of the Four Emperors of the seas. They imagined the stoic man that stood at the helm of the Red Force, directing his crew in battle.

And they wouldn't be wrong.

But on this particular day, that same man was standing outside of a tiny little bar in a corner of the East Blue, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself, and working up the courage to open the door.

It had been nearly two years since he'd last visited his hometown, the sleepy little village of Fuusha, and he'd been so excited to be back that he'd had his crew sail straight through the night, until they'd arrived in the early hours of the morning.

The cloudless sky was still a dusty pink when they'd finally docked, and there were hardly any people up and about as Shank had made his way through town.

The few people Shanks had bumped into had greeted him warmly, and he'd returned each greeting with a warm smile and a wave, knowing they wouldn't take it personally when he didn't stop to chat.

By now, everyone knew the routine.

Taking one more moment to bemoan the fact that he hadn't shaved before they'd arrived, Shanks ran his fingers through his hair once more to make sure he didn't look too dishevelled, before promptly throwing open the door to Partys Bar and stepping inside.

The place was empty at the moment, as it wouldn't be opening for another few hours, but Makino was already behind the bar, getting ready for the day, and when Shanks saw her, it felt like he could finally let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding these two years he'd been away.

She was just as lovely as ever, and when she looked up at his arrival, the smile that spread across her face took his breath away.

"Shanks!" she gasped, putting down the glass she'd been cleaning and coming out from behind the counter to throw her arms around him. "You're back!"

"I'm back," he echoed, folding arms around her and nuzzling against her hair, causing her to giggle. "Miss me?"

"Of course," she replied, burrowing deeper into the embrace.

Chuckling, Shanks pulled back slightly so he could drop a kiss on her forehead, not mentioning the tears that were gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Did you guys just get here?" she asked.

"Mmhm," hummed Shanks, brushing another kiss lightly across her cheek and she giggled again, pulling away a little as if it tickled.. "Just docked ten minutes ago. Ben and the others should be here soon."

"Oh!" gasped Makino, suddenly pulling away a little, and Shanks looked down at her in confusion, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Makino was looking back towards the stairs that led towards her living quarters now, her expression worried.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning back. "It's just…Luffy-kun and his brothers are asleep upstairs right now so…"

"Luffy?" asked Shanks, confused when he didn't recognize the name. "One of the village kids?"

"Ah…I guess you could say that?" offered Makino, looking down now. "Shanks, you remember Garp-san, right?"

"Sure," he replied. "Crazy old marine dude who lived over on the other side of town, right? What about him?"

Smacking him lightly on the shoulder, her expression disapproving at his disrespectful words, she said, "Don't call him crazy. Anyways, Luffy-kun is his grandson."

Shanks raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't even know he had a son, let alone a grandson. What's the kid doing here with you?" he asked.

Makino looked away, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, as if she didn't quite know how to answer that.

"Makino?" he asked, dropping his hands to rest them on her waist.

She looked back up, a sheepish smile spreading across her face.

"I may have, kind of, ado-"

"OI! CAPTAIN!"

The young couple jumped apart, startled, and Shanks turned to see his crew entering the bar, wearing shit-eating grins as they looked between him and Makino.

"Have you already-" started Yasopp, his voice still too loud, but Shanks cut him off.

"Shut the hell up!" he hissed, glaring at them. "There are kids sleeping upstairs, you idiots!"

The blond's mouth immediately snapped shut, his eyes widening as he stared in shock at his captain.

The rest of the rest of the crew was also now looking back and forth between him and Makino, speechless.

In the end, Ben was the first to get his voice back, smirking widely and saying in a mock offended voice, "I can't _believe_ you didn't tell us you had children, captain! And here I was, expecting to be named godfather!"

"They're not _ours_!" replied Shanks, rolling his eyes.

Lucky Roo snickered.

"Sure thing, boss!" he replied.

"It's true!" insisted Shanks, turning to look at Makino. "Right?" he asked, expecting her to confirm it.

Instead, she looked down, her cheeks tinted a faint pink, and Shanks felt the blood drain from his face.

"Makino?" he asked. "I thought you said they were Garp's grandchildren. And I know you didn't-"

"Of course not!" she insisted, her expression fierce when she met his eyes.

Shanks felt a bit of the blood return to his face – he had complete faith in Makino, but that didn't mean her reaction to his question hadn't given him quite the scare.

"So they're not yours after all?" asked Ben.

"They _are_ mine," replied Makino after a moment of hesitation, looking Shanks in the eyes.

"…huh?" was his intelligent reply, confusion coursing through him. "But you just said…"

"I adopted them."

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for now! So sorry for the short chapter. The next will hopefully be longer, and will introduce our three favourite brothers in the whole world! For now though, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, yeah?


	2. What If

SkyGem: Hello loves! Just wanted to say thanks bunches for the lovely reviews! And to those that pointed out that Shanks was originally from West Blue, I appreciate you taking the time to let me know. However, I'd just like to say that that (along with a few other minor details you'll see in future chapters) was actually a deliberate divergence from canon on my part, in order to make the story flow better. So, that's all I've got to say for now. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

* * *

" _Ace, stop shoving me!"_ hissed a six-year-old Luffy, digging his elbow into his brother's side to get him to stop being obnoxious.

" _Then move your big, fat head so I can see!"_ replied Ace in a loud whisper, shoving his little brother's head down so he could see who Makino was talking to.

" _Shut up, you two!"_ whispered Sabo, smacking them both on the head. _"I can't hear what they're saying!"_

The other two immediately stopped hissing and shoving, but continued to glare at each other, causing Sabo to sigh and shake his head.

The three of them had been sleeping soundly upstairs in their shared room until just a few minutes ago, when they'd been awoken by an obnoxiously loud and unfamiliar voice down in the bar.

Upon noticing that it wasn't even time yet for the bar to open, all three had hurried downstairs to see what was going on.

When they'd arrived, they saw their new mother standing in the middle of the bar, facing down a bunch of men that were obviously pirates.

They were looking at her with shocked expressions, especially the one with the red hair and the straw hat, who seemed to be the captain.

"You did WHAT?" he demanded, and Makino flinched away slightly at the volume of his voice.

Luffy, not appreciating his tone of voice, ran out from his hiding place, his brothers following right after him.

"DON'T YELL AT MAKINO-SAN!" he yelled, standing protectively in front of her, his brothers on either side of him.

Surprised grey eyes turned on Luffy, who just glared back, baring his teeth in a growl and looking adorably like a lion club trying to be intimidating.

"Oh dear," said Makino's voice from behind him, and Luffy felt a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder. "It's okay, Luffy, Shanks and the others weren't being mean to me."

Confused, Luffy turned to look back at Makino, who was kneeling so she was eye level with him, and smiling. "They weren't?" he asked.

"They weren't," she confirmed, pulling him closer and sweeping his messy black locks out of his eyes. "They were just surprised. I promise."

"Oh, okay," said Luffy, the distrust immediately clearing off his face to be replaced by a goofy smile.

Sabo and Ace still looked a bit suspicious, but relented when Makino's gentle fingers turned their faces towards her, expression still warm.

The two boys looked down, still not used to seeing such open affection directed towards them, and shuffled closer to her, leaning into her warmth.

Makino smiled and pressed kisses to both boys' foreheads.

Luffy, on the other hand, was no staring at the newcomers, his eyes wide and lips pulled into a delighted smile.

"Are you guys pirates?" he asked, voice hopeful, and the red-haired man smiled.

"That's right," he said, kneeling down. "I'm Shanks, the captain of the Red Hair pirates."

Luffy's lips dropped into a small 'o' shape, stars in his eyes.

"The captain? Wow! That's so cool! I'm Luffy, and those two are my brothers, Sabo and Ace!" he said, pointing to each of his brothers in turn. "When we get older, we're going to be pirates too! I'm going to be the king of the pirates!"

There were good-natured chuckles from the rest of the crew when they heard this, and Luffy was momentarily distracted.

"That's quite an impressive dream," said Shanks, claiming Luffy's attention again, and when he looked back ,there was a fond expression in Shanks' eyes. "What makes you think you have what it takes to be a pirate?"

"I'm not afraid of pain at all!" exclaimed Luffy. "My brothers and I train rigorously all the time! My punch is as strong as pistol fire!"

"Oh really?" asked Shanks, raising an eyebrow and not looking the least bit convinced.

"It's true!" insisted Luffy, his brows furrowing.

"Stop exaggerating, Luffy!" snickered Ace from where he was still snuggled into Makino's side. "You couldn't hurt a fly with that punch of yours!"

"I CAN TOO!" Luffy roared back.

Reaching around Makino, Sabo slapped Ace on the arm, saying, "Don't be so mean to him, Ace! He's pretty strong for his age!"

"Yeah!" shouted Luffy. "I'm only six! When I turn nine, I'll be even stronger than you!"

"When you're nine, I'll be twelve!" Ace retorted, sticking out his tongue. "Stuuupid!"

Snarling, Luffy ran at his older brother, as if to attack him, but the older boy just blew a raspberry at him before pulling away from Makino and running right out the door.

Luffy was hot on his heels, shouting such horrendous insults at him as "doodoohead" and "dummy".

The last of the boys, Sabo, sighed in exasperation and followed right after them, but not before bowing towards the adults in the room and saying, "I apologize for my brothers' rudeness."

* * *

Shanks watched the three little boys run out of the bar like hurricanes, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Well, I can certainly see how they charmed you," he said, voice light as he stood back up and turned his smile on Makino, who was looking after the kids with a warm smile on her face.

"I've only had them for a few weeks now," she admitted, "But I wouldn't give them up for the world."

"Mm," hummed Shanks, stepping up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You seem happier. Motherhood suits you."

And it was true. She was absolutely glowing with happiness, especially so when she was with the children.

"You're sweet," she replied, giving him a quick peck on the lips before removing his arms and stepping out of his embrace. "Now you guys make yourselves comfortable. I'll go get you your drinks."

"You're the best, Makino!" shouted one of Shanks' crewmates as she walked away, and the men all dispersed to find tables for themselves.

Most of them seemed to have gotten over their shock, though Shanks was sure he could still here two or three conversations about the boys.

"So how's it feel, being a dad?" asked Benn, lighting a cigarette as they both took seats at the bar.

Shanks rolled his eyes, saying, "Just because they're Makino's kids doesn't make them my kids too."

Benn raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought you'd jump at the chance to be a dad," he said.

"It's not that I don't want to," replied Shanks, taking his hat off to run a hand through his hair. "It's just that…I don't really have a right to just claim myself their father. I mean, for one thing Makino and I aren't even married and – don't you give me that expression, Benn! You know I can't propose to her!"

"Sure you can," replied Benn, blowing smoke in his stupid captain's face. "You're just too much of a wimp."

Waving the smoke out of his face, Shanks just glared at his friend.

"Shut up! Anyways, we don't even know if they would _want_ me as a father! Maybe their real father is still in the picture."

"He's not," replied Makino, coming back with a few of Shanks' crewmates, who had gone to help her roll out some sake barrels. "None of them are."

"Them?" asked Shanks in a confused voice, leaning forward to snag a bottle of sake for himself.

"The boys aren't related by blood," replied Makino. "Only Luffy is Garp's biological grandson. From what I understand, Ace was adopted by him after his mother died in labor, and Sabo was a friend of theirs from when they still lived with Dadan."

"Dadan?"

"The leader of the Mt. Colubo bandits."

Hearing that, Shanks nearly choked on his drink.

"W-why the hell were they living with bandits?" he asked, still coughing. "Isn't Garp a damn marine? Doesn't he have time to spend with his grandchildren?"

"It's not my place to say," replied Makino, her lips pressing into a thin line of disapproval at the thought of what her boys had been through. "Shanks…those boys, they've been through so much. Especially Ace. When they first got here, he wouldn't talk to anyone but me or his brothers. And the way they acted…it was as if they'd been raised by a pack of wolves. I've been trying to teach them some manners, but…I just…I feel so out of my depth. I couldn't bear to part with them, but I just don't know if I can be everything they need."

"I'm sure you can," replied Shanks, taking her hand in his. Neither he nor Benn mentioned her shaking. "And while I'm basically useless with children, I'll help in any way I can, alright?"

"But you guys have to leave soon, don't you?" asked Makino, fiddling with a tea towel. "I'd hate to trouble you guys so much."

"Don't worry about it, Makino," assured Benn. Waving his cigarette in the direction of the rest of their crew, he said, "These idiots have been complaining about taking some time off anyways, and since things have been pretty calm in the New World recently, now's as good a time as any for an extended shore leave."

At the words "shore leave," the rest of the crew perked up, turning towards their captain.

"Oi! What's this about shore leave?" asked someone.

"We staying in East Blue after all, cap?" asked another.

"We gonna be visiting the other Blues too?" asked someone else. "Been meaning to check up on my folks."

"Well, looks like that's settled," said Shanks with a grin, brushing a kiss across Makino's hand, still held in his own. "We'll set sail every once in a while, but we'll be using Fuusha as our base. Sounds good?"

* * *

It was nearing lunch time when Makino's three little monsters returned to the bar, all three of them looking noticeably more scruffy and beaten up than they had when they'd left.

Alarmed, Shanks shot up from his seat at the bar, interrupting his conversation with Benn to approach the kids.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked, kneeling down in front of them. "Did anyone bother you? What happened?"

"Why would you think anyone bothered us?" asked Sabo, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Wha…you're covered in bruises!" exclaimed Yasopp.

"So?" asked Ace, looking at him and noticing that the whole bar was now watching them with varying expressions of worry on their faces.

"How did you get them?" asked Shanks.

The boys turned bemused expressions on him.

"Sparring," they replied slowly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Shanks felt his eyebrows rise into his hairline.

"I…see…" he replied slowly. "Do you guys spar often?"

"Yeah!" replied Luffy enthusiastically. "So that we can get really strong so we can be pirates when we get older!"

"And do you guys have a teacher?" asked Shanks, an idea suddenly popping into his head.

The boys shook their heads.

"Would you like some of us to teach you, then?" he suggested. "We have lots of different fighting styles on our crew, that you can learn from."

"Really?" asked Luffy, stars in his eyes as he stepped forward.

"Sure," replied Shanks. "Swordsmanship, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat-"

"What about pipes?" asked Sabo, looking excited as well.

"Sure," replied Shanks. "Quite a few of our members use bo staffs actually."

"I wanna learn!" shouted Luffy, jumping around excitedly. "Teach me how to fi-"

"Wait, Luffy," interrupted Ace, grabbing his brother's arm to stop his bouncing.

The younger boy looked as if he were about to shake him off, but one look at Ace's expression, and he immediately froze, his expression turning serious.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Shanks, meeting the suspicious child's gaze.

Crossing his arms, the boy asked, "How do we know we can trust you?"

"Ace, he's a friend of Makino's," said Sabo gently. "We can trust him."

Ace didn't reply, instead continuing to stare coldly at Shanks.

"Ask me anything you want," replied Shanks, holding his hands out in front of him. "I've got nothing to hide."

His brows furrowed, the freckled boy asked, "What's your relationship with Makino?"

Shanks didn't even hesitate. "She's my childhood friend, and the person I love most in this world."

Sabo's eyes widened in realization.

"How did you meet her?" asked Ace.

"I was born in this village," answered Shanks. "Everyone knows everyone here."

"How come we've never met you before?"

"My crew and I spend most of our time on the second half of the Grand Line, in the New World."

"And you don't have any other women there?" asked Ace, expression severe, as if he was ready to castrate Shanks if he didn't like his answer.

"I don't," said Shanks, holding his gaze willing the child to see how serious he was about this. "I'd never even dream of it."

"Why do you want to teach us? What's your motive?" Ace was starting to look a little less unfriendly, but he wasn't ready to give in just yet.

"I just want to get to know you better," replied Shanks honestly. "You're an important part in Makino's life, and she's an important part in mine. I want you to know you can trust me too."

Ace seemed to think hard about that for a moment, and Shanks wondered if he'd finally made it through to the kid.

After a few minutes' contemplation, Ace seemed to make up his mind about something.

"Alright," he said. "One last question."

Shanks nodded in encouragement.

"What would you do if Gold Roger had a kid?"

* * *

SkyGem: And CUT! That's it for today's chapter! Did you guys like it? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought!


	3. Of Hurt, Of Comfort, Of Trust

The bar was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop.

Shanks felt horror well up within him as he realized the implications of what Ace was telling him. Now that he knew what to look for, it wasn't hard to see the signs. Ace had Rouge's freckles and eyes, but Roger's strong jaw and cheekbones. He had his mother's curls, but his father's hair colour. There was no one else his parents could have been, and the thought of what he must have gone through for it pained Shanks.

All three children were glaring at him now as they waited for an answer, even the excessively friendly Luffy, so Shanks took a moment to make sure he had the right words before speaking.

Focusing his gaze on Ace, Shanks smiled softly at the boy, obviously catching him off guard. "If Gol D. Roger had a kid," he said, "I would tell him, first and foremost, that he is his own person, and doesn't deserve to be condemned for the actions of a man he never even met just because that man helped conceive him."

Ace's eyes widened then, staring at him in shock, mouth open as if what he was hearing was too good to be true. He looked a bit teary too, his bottom lip trembling as if he wanted to cry.

Luffy was smiling brightly, glad that Shanks really was as awesome as he'd thought, and Sabo looked pleasantly surprised.

"And then I would ask him what people have told him about his father to make him look so sad and angry," continued Shanks. "And I would talk to him however long it took to convince him they were wrong."

Ace was crying now, great, ugly, hiccuping sobs and fat tears rolling down his cheeks making him look impossibly young.

"T-then do you w-w-want me to exist?" he asked between sobs, wiping the tears away with his wrists, only to have more gush forth.

"Of course," replied Shanks softly, reaching out to take his hand gently into his own, tugging him forward. Ace stumbled towards him, wrapping his arms around Shanks and allowing the man to pick him up. "You're Luffy and Sabo's precious brother. And Makino's beloved son. "

Ace's sobs quieted a bit as Shanks carried him to the stairs leading up to Makino's home, Luffy and Sabo trailing after him worriedly.

"I used to be a cabin boy for the Roger pirates, you know," he said, and he knew he was babbling, but it was the only way he could think of to calm the child down. "The world only knows of Roger as a pirate, and not as a person. He was a really funny guy."

The rest of Shanks' crew had gone reluctantly back to their revelry, ignoring them so as to provide an illusion of privacy, though Makino was eyeing her kids and her lover with worry, as if just barely stopping herself from rushing over and sweeping Ace into her arms. Shanks sent her a reassuring half-smile and the barest shake of his head. After a moment, she relented and turned back to her customers, wringing her hands in worry.

Before Shanks turned away though, he noticed Benn start talking to her, trying to distract her.

Readjusting his grip on the nine-year-old in his arms, Shanks began wracking his brain for a funny story to tell Ace, but then he noticed that his young passenger had gotten strangely quiet. Since his head was now resting on Shanks' shoulder, turned away from him, Shanks couldn't judge his facial expression.

"You okay there, buddy?" asked Shanks, patting Ace on the back to get his attention. All he got in reply was silence from Ace, and giggles from his two brothers.

"He's asleep," Luffy informed him, and Shanks raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ace has narcolepsy," Sabo explained, and Shanks' other eyebrow went up.

Luffy nodded emphatically, walking backwards as he led Shanks towards the bedroom he shared with his brothers.

"He gets really sleepy sometimes, and falls asleep in the middle of things," said Luffy. "It's really funny because sometimes, he stops in the middle of a sentence, and then when he wakes up, he continues it like he never stopped! Shishishi!"

They arrived at the boys' bedroom just then, and as Shanks laid Ace down on their large double bed, his brows were furrowed in worry. "Has it always been like this?" he asked.

And suddenly, all laughter drained from their faces, replaced by heart aching worry. Luffy shook his head.

"It used to be worse," he said.

"Sometimes, he used to see scary things that weren't there just before he fell asleep, or right after he woke up," said Sabo.

Crawling onto the bed next to his brother, Luffy continued in a teary voice, "And one time, I wanted to surprise him for his birthday, b-but I surprised him too much, and he lost all his energy and fell to the ground and hurt himself."

"He _almost_ hurt himself," corrected Sabo, going over to comfort his little brother. "And he _really_ liked your surprise, you know. So he'll be very upset if he finds out you're still being a crybaby about something like that."

"I'm not a crybaby!" insisted Luffy, immediately wiping his tears away.

Taking a seat on the edge of the bed as well, Shanks asked, "Does that still happen?"

The question brought a grin to Luffy's face, and he shook his head, saying a cheerful, "Nope! When we came to live with Makino, she had a doctor come look at Ace, and he told us that Ace had narcapepsi!"

"Narcolepsy," corrected Sabo.

"That's what I said," Luffy retorted, before continuing. "And he told us how we can make Ace get better. He gave us two medicines! One is something he puts in his orange juice in the morning when he has breakfast, and it stops him from losing all his energy and falling asleep. And the other one is special candy medicine that he always keeps with him and he has to eat one when he gets tired."

"I see," said Shanks thoughtfully. "But he still falls asleep sometimes?"

"Yes, but not very often," Sabo answers. "There are other things he has to do too to decrease the symptoms of his narcolepsy. He has to have small meals with lots of snacks in between instead of big meals; he has to exercise regularly, which we do anyways; he has to eat at the same time every day and sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time…"

He counted each item off on his fingers, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Oh! He also has to take naps!" Luffy chimed in. "But he doesn't like naps much because he says they're for babies. So me an' Sabo nap at the same time as him, so even if he doesn't sleep, he'll be all by himself, so he ends up sleeping anyways."

Shanks felt the corners of his lips quirk up in a soft smile.

"That's a very nice thing to do for your brother," he said, ruffling Luffy's hair affectionately. "When do you guys usually have nap time?"

"After lunch," replied Sabo. "But we left before breakfast this morning and even though the Mayor gave us something to eat when we bumped into him in town, Ace didn't get to drink his medicine so he fell asleep early. But he gets really cranky if we wake him up, so we'll just take our nap now."

"I see," said Shanks, getting up. "I guess I should stop bothering you guys then, huh?"

"Yes, please," answered Sabo politely, pulling the covers up under his chin.

"Sweet dreams then," said Shanks, turning to leave.

Before he could get more than a few steps though, Luffy's tiny voice called out, "Hey, Shanks?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around.

Luffy smiled sleepily at him, and said, "Thanks."

"For what?" asked Shanks, confused.

"For what you said to Ace. You're the first grownup that ever told him that."

Luffy's expression was almost worshipful as he said it, making Shanks feel distinctly unworthy.

"I was only telling the truth," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away awkwardly.

"Thanks anyways," said Sabo, from where he was snuggled on Ace's other side.

"It was no problem," Shanks finally relented with a smile.

He turned to leave again, and only got another few steps before being stopped again.

"Hey Shanks?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around again to see that this time it was Sabo that had called out to him.

"Were you really on Gold Roger's pirate crew?"

Shanks' lips twitched in amusement.

"I was."

"Will you tell us some good stories about him?" asked Sabo. "I think Ace would like that."

"Of course," replied Shanks.

Sabo smiled widely, and Shanks waited for his eyes to slip closed before turning to leave.

This time, he got to the door before he was stopped.

"Hey Shanks?" asked Ace's sleepy voice.

Shanks turned to see the oldest of the three boys was barely conscious.

"Yes?" he asked softly.

"Will you still be here later?"

"Of course," answered Shanks, finding he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed at the boys.

Ace smiled sleepily, his eyes slipping closed again, and Shanks waited a few moments, to make sure they weren't about to stop him again, then left, gently closing the door behind him not to wake them up.

He headed back downstairs, to where the ongoing party was still rather subdued.

Yasopp was the first to notice him, eyes widening and calling, "Captain!"

All noise ground to a halt then as the rest of his crew turned to look at him.

"Where are the kids?" asked Roo.

"Ace fell asleep," Shanks told him, meeting Makino's gaze as he went to reclaim his seat at the counter. "So they decided to take a nap now."

Satisfied that the children were okay, the good cheer returned to the crew and they went back to their partying, albeit quieter than before.

Makino looked worried for a split second, probably realizing Ace hadn't taken his medicine, before a smile spread across her features.

"Did they explain Ace's condition to you?" she asked.

"Aye," answered Shanks, taking up the bottle he'd abandoned earlier.

Makino's smile widened.

"He hardly ever falls asleep anymore," she told him matter-of-factly. "And when it _does_ happen, it's only ever when he feels completely safe."

"Oh really?" asked Shanks, eyebrows raised.

"Mmhm!" hummed Makino, grinning fit to burst. "That means you've gained his trust!"

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter, loves! What'd you think? In canon, I doubt Ace ever got to see a doctor about his narcolepsy, considering he was raised by bandits, so he was lucky it wasn't severe enough to endanger his life. The incident Luffy explained in this chapter, when Ace collapsed, was an example of cataplexy, which can happen when the person experiences strong emotions, such as surprise, joy, or sadness, and it can be really very dangerous. Makino, of course, would want to make sure she could help her son as much as possible.

His medicine is dissolvable in juice so that he won't have any tantrums about taking it, and of course, it's the same with the candy (which is an amphetamine-like stimulant), which the doctor made sure tasted sweet so that he wouldn't hesitate to take it when he needed it and wouldn't risk an episode. I'm not sure if this exists/is possible irl, but considering this is the world of One Piece (where they likely have different medicinal herbs and other ingredients than we do), I decided to take some artistic license.

Anyways, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, yes? See you all next time!


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